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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hi Brian,
How are you? I hope you and your family are well. It was nice to meet everybody in Owen Sound in the summer.

You may recall June Frost and I and my daughter, Alexandra, were at the workshop there. We were doing an exercise and you asked for ideas. One of the ideas was to write about four boys and a coffin. Alexandra took off with that and wrote a short story then and there.

Later in the fall we heard about the Youth Film Festival in Owen Sound where youth could submit films for the competition. Alexandra rewrote her story into a screenplay, found some actors from her class and then filmed and produced the movie Unbearable Guilt. It was shown last month at the Galaxy Theatre as part of the Owen Sound Youth Film Festival.

Thought you might like to know. It’s interesting how one idea leads to another and another...
Take care,Carla McLaughlin

Hi, Brian!
Just found out this morning I'm a finalist in the National Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Contest for unpublished writers in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category. My feet haven't yet touched the ground!!! And I can't even tell you where my head is at!

Thanks for your continual encouragement, Brian. You're a real blessing in an industry of eternal rejection.

Arlene McFarlane

Note: For those of you who don’t know: the Rita Awards and the Golden Hearts are the Oscars of romance publishing. Winners in the unpublished category seldom stay unpublished for long. - Brian

Tuesday, April 17
2:00 – 4:30Free
CJ’s Café, 2416 Lakeshore Rd W, in Bronte
(On the south side of Lakeshore, just east of Bronte Rd, next to Lick’s ice cream – map here.)

Join us for our monthly meet-up at CJ's. Cafe. You’re invited to come and hang out with fellow writers. Bring your laptop or notebook and a piece of writing you’re working on down to CJ’s Cafe to spend a couple hours writing in the company of other writers. Or just come down to chat and find out what your fellow writers have been up to.

This isn’t a class – I won't be giving lectures or crtiquing manuscripts. Some people may read what they've been writing, though. Mostly, it’s an opportunity to network, to talk about writing and getting published, and to write in a convivial atmosphere with other writers doing the same as you’re doing – getting a story on paper while sipping the best lattes in North America and listening to some mellow music.

See you there,- Brian

P.S. You don’t need to come for the whole time. I teach a class Tuesday afternoon, so I won’t be there myself until shortly after 3 p.m. But you don't need me to get going. On March 29, Jennifer Mook-Sang craftily arrived about 2 p.m. and got a solid hour of writing in before I arrived and blabbed away the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hi Brian,
I wanted to let you know that my first two young adult novels, Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer will be released on April 1, 2011. They'll be the first two books for the twelve and over age group published by Baker & Taylor Publishing Group's Silver Dolphin Books imprint.

They're part of Silver Dolphin's Twisted Tales series which will provide readers with an unusual twist on some familiar fairy tales. Both books have a choose-your-own adventure element, lots of action, and heroines capable of saving themselves - but who also win the hearts of the handsome princes.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

﻿How to find and create great characters
Saturday, July 23
10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
The World's Biggest Bookstore, 20 Edward St, Toronto
(A block north of Dundas, just west off Yonge St. Map here.)

Whatever you're writing – fiction or nonfiction – readers will care about your story only if they care about your people. In this workshop, you'll learn techniques for creating fictional characters and depicting real people. You’ll learn how to breathe life into the page so that your characters start telling you how the story should go.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led creative writing workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he's helped many of his students get published.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Quattro Books will publish the two best novella manuscripts by a Canadian author as part of their 2012 publishing list. The novella manuscript should be completed, neatly typed, and not less than 15,000 words or more than 42,000 words. Note the number of words on the cover. Your name may appear in the manuscript’s header or footer.

Please take a look at the type of novellas Quattro publishes; we publish literary fiction and do not publish genre fiction (ccience fiction or romances.) You may send your manuscripts anytime between March 01, 2011 and June 01, 2011.

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar – just $23 including tax and shipping (or $20 at any of Brian Henry's workshops or classes). To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca More details here.

Tuesday, March 29
2:00 – 4:30Free
CJ’s Café, 2416 Lakeshore Rd W, in Bronte
(On the south side of Lakeshore, just east of Bronte Rd, next to Lick’s ice cream – map here.)

You’re invited to come and hang out with fellow writers. Bring your laptop or notebook and a piece of writing you’re working on down to CJ’s Cafe to spend a couple hours writing in the company of other writers. Or just come down to chat and find out what your fellow writers have been up to.

This isn’t a class – there won’t be any lectures or critiquing. It’s an opportunity to network, to talk about writing and getting published, and to write in a convivial atmosphere with other writers doing the same as you’re doing – getting a story on paper while sipping the best lattes in North America and listening to some mellow music.

See you there,- Brian

P.S. You don’t need to come for the whole time. I teach a class Tuesday afternoon, so I won’t be there myself until shortly after 3 p.m.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Julie Chalmers leaves her home in Edinburgh, Scotland, after a visit from the police telling her that her estranged husband was found dead in Dundee. Knowing that he left for another woman, she pulls up roots, reverts to her maiden name, and moves to the city where he died, planning on exacting her revenge on the other woman, a man-eater named Nicole.

Little does Julie know that the Night Watcher – a disturbed young man – has already arrived in Dundee and his Chosen One is Nicole, the other woman.

Julie rents the flat above the one her husband had in the building where he died and puts her plans of revenge on Nicole into action.

Over the years, Nicole has amassed a number of enemies - Harry, the security guard at the store who she belittles at every opportunity, Ken - her lover who she dumps when it becomes clear he’s not about to leave his wife, Scott - her husband who has his own bit on the side.

When Nicole thinks she’s being stalked and gifts mysteriously arrive for her – dead birds and animals – and just as mysteriously disappear, her husband doesn’t take her seriously. He tries to convince her that it’s her imagination. But does he have an ulterior motive?

When the police are called in, the head detective on the case doesn’t take Nicole’s accounts of recent events seriously. Only when she ends up dead does the detective realize he’s made a grave error.

Things get even more complicated when the detective falls for Julie and they embark on a relationship only to discover that Julie has become the Night Watcher’s next Chosen One.

Even when you think you have it all figured out, Chris throws in one final twist to throw you off. Her descriptive narrative draws you into the story, making the sights, sounds and smells of Dundee come to life. The dialogue is natural and makes the characters seem like normal folk you might meet on the street or in your local. For anyone who enjoys crime fiction, I highly recommend this as an addition to your must read list.

Chris’s first novel, Dead Wood, won the prestigious Dundee International Book prize in 2009. The first prize included £10,000 and publication by Polygon. You can visit her website here. The Kindle version of Night Watcher is available for download from amazon.com for $3.99 US here. Book trailer here.

Melanie King lives in Brockville, Ontario with her family. When not working or speaking, Melanie loves reading and writing, hoping one day to break into the novel-length fiction market.

Friday, March 25, 2011

We are hosting a “Read-in-bed-athon” in our bookstore, Forster's Book Garden in Bolton, on Wednesday, May 25, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. People will read in our bed (in the store) one at a time for a few minutes for a total of 12 hours. Each reader pays $5 or gets sponsors they will represent. All proceeds go to the Caledon Public Library. There will be refreshments and entertainment for people as they wait their turn. Also, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has agreed to come and sign books starting at 2:00 for about an hour.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

First place: $1,500
In addition, the winner and all the finalists (usually about 10) will be submitted to three publishers of children's books.
Deadline: Postmarked April 24.
$15 fee per entry.

This contest is open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have not been published in book format, in any genre, and who do not have a contract with a book publisher. Entries must be written in the English language, not previously published, and within the word limit of 1,500. Please do not send illustrations or entries with only a few sentences per page.

How To Submit Entries:
Typed, double-spaced and numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper, not stapled. Submissions on computer disk or faxes won’t be accepted.

Include a separate cover letter with full name, address, phone number, and number of pages of entry. Please type name of entrant and title of entry on each numbered page.

Make cheque or money order payable to The Writers' Union of Canada. Multiple entries can be submitted together and fees can be added and paid with one cheque or money order.

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar – just $23 including tax and shipping (or $20 at any of Brian Henry's workshops or classes). To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca More details here.

Brian has "Writing for Children and Young Adults" workshops coming up on on April 9 in Peterborough (see here), and on April 10 in Kingston (see here).

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Maple Tree Press has been the publisher of distinctive, award-winning children's books for over 30 years.
Publishing under the banner of Owl Books, our history began in the early 1970s, following the launch of OWL magazine, which was to become Canada's leading children's magazine. The earliest books we published were based on articles and experiments from the magazine, and focused on science and nature.

Over the years, our publishing mandate became broader. We welcome book ideas of all kinds for children aged three to twelve. For the most part we publish nonfiction in the areas of science and nature, and activity and craft books.We also publish a diverse collection of books that celebrate Canada's history and culture.

We publish Canadian writers almost exclusively (including Canadian citizens living abroad).

If you wish to have your manuscript considered for publication, please mail it to our office along with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope. The package should be marked to the attention of the Submissions Editor. The review period is usually twelve to sixteen weeks. Full submission guidelines here.

Brian Henry has "Writing for Children and Young Adults" workshops coming up on on April 9 in Peterborough (see here), and on April 10 in Kingston (see here).

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Gregor Robinson’s protagonist, Ray Carry, took me on a fascinating journey to “the last wilderness,” as his father used to call the places up north by Hudson Bay, with “few roads, nothing but the dark forest and shambling beasts, the trickle of water in nameless lakes and muskeg, the sighing of the trees.”

Ray Carry returns to his family cottage for his dad’s funeral, but his trip becomes a troubled journey back in time as he searches for a conclusion to dramatic events that happened during his high school vacations.

Isn’t high school the most memorable time in our life? We all have tons to tell about it. But for Ray there is more, something that has haunted him for his entire adulthood, and the mystery builds with the flip of each page.

As a teen, Ray faced the usual dilemmas of growing up: the difference between true love and fascination, between making love and just having sex, and the question of whether anyone has the right to decide who one falls in love with. But Ray bears more than the usual scars of growing up. Because of his lack of experience, he failed to react in a critical situation, and the label of cowardice became a stigmata on Ray’s heart.

In a wonderful parabola, the narrative shows Ray reaching to his conclusion by gathering the strength to look back at the mutilated face of the legendary Indian spirit who has haunted the northern forests for more than one hundred years.

At the story’s end, tragedies from Ray’s past surface into the present in a powerful emotional arch and Ray realizes that “all three deaths were connected.”

Coincidently, I read this book on the day my daughter turned fifteen. As I devoured the last pages of Providence Island, about twenty teenagers were screaming and dancing to loud music in my basement, their revels reminding me that the arc from teen to adult is travelled endlessly.

Providence Island is available at your local book store or online here.Information about submitting to Dundurn Presshere.

Cecilia-Anca Popescu writes about the drama of the expat, about her life experiences, and sometimes about her cats. You can read some of her poetry here and here.

InkWell Management is a large New York agency. It was formed in 2004 through the merger of Arthur Pine Associates. Carlisle & Company, and Witherspoon Associates. Inkwell handles both fiction and nonfiction, literary and commercial literature, adult and young adult books.

InkWell says: "We offer the all-round service of a large agency, while maintaining the intimacy of a boutique. We work together as a close-knit team, ensuring that each client has every advantage at all stages of the process, from inception to publication and beyond."

Newer agents:Nathaniel Jacks graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a BA in literature. He represents a variety of writers and is also InkWell’s contracts manager. He welcomes submissions in most categories, including fiction (literary and commercial, women's, young adult, historical, short story, among others) as well as memoir, narrative nonfiction, biography, travel, religion, entertainment, food & wine, history, humor, current affairs and business. Email: nathaniel@inkwellmanagement.com

Jacqueline Murphy started with InkWell in 2011. She has been engaged in acquiring and shaping important ideas defining the global business culture for nearly two decades, most recently as Editorial Director at Harvard Business Press.She's held senior-level editorial positions at Perseus Books, Bloomberg Press and John Wiley & Sons.
Her interest and expertise is in developing breakthrough concepts for wide impact and broad appeal. She's acquired and edited bestsellers such as The Cluetrain Manifesto by Christopher Locke, et al., Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, and Iconoclast by Gregory Berns.

Elisa Petrini became a literary agent in 2004 after a twenty-year publishing career, holding major editorial positions at Rolling Stone Press, Macmillan, William Morrow, Bantam, and Dutton. The New York Times bestselling authors she has edited include Tracy Chevalier (Girl With A Pearl Earring), Sadie and Bessie Delany (Having Our Say and The Delany Sisters’ Book Of Everyday Wisdom), Reba McEntire, Ralph Emery, and James van Praagh.

A writer herself, she has ghosted a number of books, including a bestselling novel, and is the credited co-author of Candice DeLong’s memoir, Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI and the New York Times bestseller A Paper Life by Tatum O’Neal. Elisa joined Inkwell Management in 2006 in the dual role of agent, developing her own list of clients, and content-development specialist, helping all Inkwell authors to develop book ideas, effective proposals, and strong manuscripts. Email: elisa@inkwellmanagement.com

Charlie Olsen attended Rider University, where he earned a B.A. in Print Journalism. Prior to joining Inkwell, he covered a beat at a newswire in the District of Columbia and wrote for two newspapers in New Jersey. Among others, he represents Andrea Cremer and Maureen McGowan. Email: charlie@inkwellmanagement.com

Saturday, March 19, 2011

At Spinetingler, we want to entertain our audience while we promote and enhance the profile of talented emerging writers using the forum of electronic publishing. We know there are a lot of great stories out there that should have a place where they can be told, so we are providing that venue for them

Spinetingler publishes compelling stories that capture the reader with intriguing characters and quality writing. Spinetingler publishes stories that could, within the broadest definitions of genre possible, be categorized as crime, mystery, thriller, suspense or horror. Stories should be 1500-5000 words in length. You may submit a shorter story, but there is no payment for stories under 1500 words. Contributors will paid $25 USD

Friday, March 18, 2011

Earlier (here), I posted about the murder of five members of an Israeli family in the community of Itamar - the mother, father and three children aged eleven, four and three months. I promise not to make Quick Brown Fox into a political blog, but there have been some updates...

As they do whenever there's a successful attack, terrorists celebrated in the streets of Gaza by passing out sweets. However, Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar discovered something unusual in the streets of Nablus in the West Bank: ordinary Palestinians expressing disgust and outrage over the murder of the Fogel family.

Shlomi says that in years of reporting from the Palestinian territories this genuinely surprised him; it was the first time Palestinians were volunteering themselves to express such opposition.﻿﻿
﻿﻿ ﻿﻿One man said: "The feeling is not good. It’s wrong that something like this could happen. No one wants his son or father or brother to die. People who were in their home, sleeping in their place of security. To go in and murder them with a knife. Where is his heart? Where is his mercy? Where is the humanity? Where? Simply put, the man who does this has no heart, he has nothing."

Hadas Fogel, murdered at age 3 months.
May her name be a blessing.

I hope this is a sign that the Palestinian leadership is out of step with ordinary Palestinians. Just three weeks ago, the Palestinian Authority broadcast a TV show honoring the terrorists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of the murderers the show praised was Habash Hanani, who committed the last atrocity the people of Itamar suffered. Back in May 2002 Hanani murdered three students in the local high school.

The Palestinian Authority - the people who are supposed to be Israel's peace partners - praise terrorists all the time. They call them heroes and martyrs, and they name streets, schools and summer camps in their honor. I've written about this before here.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade has claimed responsibility for this latest atrocity in Itamar. They want the glory of it. In fact, they want the glory of a successful terrorist attack so much that the Brigade often claims attacks committed by other terrorist groups (and likely the murders in Itamar were actually committed by Hamas).

But this time it seems many Palestinians aren't seeing this attack as glorious. In slitting the throat of a three-month old baby, the terrorists apparently went a step too far. Indeed, possibly - hopefully - the revulsion in the streets of Nablus signals a sea change, a recognition that terrorism just kills people and does nothing for the Palestinian cause.

Meanwhile, Israel Defence Forces are all over the West Bank looking for the murderers. On Sunday there was some excitement when a taxi raced up to the entrance to Neve Tzuf, the settlement where the Fogels are grieving for their murdered son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The taxi driver was seeking help for his passenger - a Palestinian woman in advanced labour and facing life-threatening circumstances: the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.

Because of the manhunt for the murderers of the Fogel family, an Israel Defence Forces medic was on hand and went to the woman's aid even before the settlement's own medic could get to her. The IDF medic, Corporal Haim Levin age 19, was able to save both mother and new-born daughter, and an ambulance quickly arrived to transport them to an Israeli hospital.

According to reports, Palestinians from the nearby village of Nabi Salah gathered around the paramedics along with the new grandmother and could not hide their joy.

"They thanked us," said Corporal Levin, "and told us they named the girl Jude."

Thursday, March 17, 2011

It's not every day that a prestigious literary journal like The New Quarterly has to go begging for submissions, but Catherine Muss at TNQ (email below) tells me they're concerned about how few entries they've received for their Edna Staebler personal essay contest.

Of course the contest has a $40 fee (though that does include a one-year subscription) and few writers specialize in the personal essay. On the other hand, few entries means a better chance for everyone who does enter...

The deadline is March 28, 2011. Contest details here.
More about The New Quarterly and their general submission requirements here.

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar – just $23 including tax and shipping (or $20 at any of my workshops or classes). To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca More details here.

Dear Brian,
Thank you so much for posting about our contests on Quick Brown Fox. We really appreciate your support. Multiple entrants cited your blog as the source for where they heard about our contests.

The Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest's deadline has passed, but our Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest's deadline is March 28, 2011, and we are a bit concerned with the amount of entries we have received so far for the essay contest, so I thought I would take a chance and mention it again.

Again, thank you for using your resources to promote the contests.

Sincerely,Catherine Muss
TNQ Intern

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar – just $23 including tax and shipping (or $20 at any of Brian Henry's workshops or classes). To order your copy, emailbrianhenry@sympatico.caMore detailshere.

Children are sweet creatures but somewhat wily when it comes to pet ownership. When my own kids launched their Puppy Campaign a few years ago, there was only one possible response: No.

“But Mom, we need a dog,” came the anguished rebuttal. And they probably did.

My children’s father had died a few months earlier. We had all been recovering from the demise of our beloved chocolate Lab, Zeppy. And the year before that, we had faced the passing of my own wonderful father. The business of death was weighing on us and the thought of a puppy prancing around our ankles had some appeal ... more

Susan Crossman is a career writer with decades of experience in journalism, government communications, PR and marketing. She currently runs her own freelance writing business through which she produces newsletter and web content, speeches, reports, profile pieces and other custom documentation for clients in the corporate sector. You can read another essay by susan here and an excerpt from her novel in progress here. And check out Susan's website, Crossman Communications, here.

For information about submitting to Facts and Arguments at the Globe & Mail, see here.

For information about all of Brian Henry's creative writing courses and writing workshops in Toronto, Halton, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond, see here.

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don't miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie.

Dr. Ross Pennie is the author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). He has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out last April and won Arts Hamilton Literary Award for Fiction. Ross's next novel, Tampered, will be launched May 5. At the workshop, Ross will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published.

Hi Brian:
When I was scrolling through your website, I discovered the newpages and sent a piece to one of the literary magazines that was seeking submissions. A month later, they emailed saying they'd like to run my piece in their 2011 winter issue. The literary journal is called Jelly Bucket. It was a great feeling, and I thought I'd let you know that I found the link on your site. :)

Hi Brian,
Just wanted to let you know that in the eternal pursuit of publishing creds, I've had my first short story published. You can find the story, "The Seven of Swords," on Jersey Devil Press. Can't say enough good things about Eirik Gumeny and Monica Rodriguez, Jersey Devil Press's Editors, nice folk and funny as heck.

I have another story pending publication in the fall issue of Spinetingler. Will let you know when it's up.

Cheers,Tanis Mallow

For information on submitting to Jersey Devil Press, see here. Info on submitting to Spinetingler here. And read Tanis’s story here.

For information about Brian Henry's creative writing courses and writing workshops in Toronto, Halton, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond, see here.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Six weeks of inspiration
Monday afternoons, 12:45 – 2:45 p.m.
May 9 – June 20 (no class on Victoria Day)
Islington United Church
25 Burnhamthorpe Road, Etobicoke, in Toronto.
At the corner of Dundas Street, west of Islington Ave. Map here.

This course will open the door to all kinds of creative writing. We’ll visit short story writing and personal writing, children’s writing, memoir writing, and just for fun writing. You’ll get a shot of inspiration every week and an assignment to keep you going till the next class. Best of all, this class will provide a zero-pressure, totally safe environment, where your words will flow and flower.

Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led writing workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he's helped many of his students get published.

Tuesday, March 29
2:00 – 4:30Free
CJ’s Café, 2416 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville
(On the south side of Lakeshore, just east of Bronte Rd, next to Lick’s ice cream – map here.)

You’re invited to come and hang out with fellow writers. Bring your laptop or notebook and a piece of writing you’re working on down to CJ’s Cafe to spend a couple hours writing in the company of other writers. Or just come down to chat and find out what your fellow writers have been up to.

This isn’t a class – there won’t be any lectures or critiquing. It’s an opportunity to network, to talk about writing and getting published, and to write in a convivial atmosphere with other writers doing the same as you’re doing – getting a story on paper while sipping the best lattes in North America and listening to some mellow music.

See you there,- Brian

P.S. You don’t need to come for the whole time. I teach a class Tuesday afternoon, so I won’t be there myself until shortly after 3 p.m.

For information about my creative writing courses and writing workshops in Toronto, Halton, Peel, the GTA, Ontario and beyond, see here.

This course will open the door to all kinds of creative writing. We’ll visit short story writing and personal writing, children’s writing, memoir writing, and just for fun writing. You’ll get a shot of inspiration every week and an assignment to keep you going till the next class. Best of all, this class will provide a zero-pressure, totally safe environment, where your words will flow and flower.

Ruth Fogel (35), husband Udi Fogel (36), and children Yoav (11), Elad (4) and Hadas (3 months) murdered in their sleep by a Palestinian terrorist on Friday. Their bodies were discovered by their 12-year-old daughter.

Palestinian man offers sweets to Hamas police officers in Rafah in the Gaza strip to celebrate the murders.

Sorry, I don't usually post news about crimes or politics on Quick Brown Fox but I have a niece named Hadas, the same name as the murdered baby, and I'm so revolted by the idea of people celebrating this slaughter that I feel compelled to do my tiny bit to bring it to the attention of the world. - Brian

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The buzz of his phone scratched his hip from a pocket somewhere under his Kevlar waders. It was absolutely typical that she’d call now, he thought as the gator writhed in his arms like a slimy column of muscle layered in tree bark.

He fumbled for the zip ties looped at his left wrist for easy access but the gator’s well-timed flop made him miss. A trickle of sweat made it past his eyebrows and stung eyes already half-squeezed shut against the spraying swamp water and the drowsy bayou sun. The phone buzzed again.

The gator, as if in answer, launched itself into a powerful set of zig-zagging shakes designed to dislodge the irritating, sweaty man clamping its jaws with one hand. Its dangerous, pig-trotter claws flailed for purchase.

If John could just … get … this creature’s snout zipped and land it in the truck bed, he could make a date with his own damned wife… But the gator was not cooperating.

The phone was a mosquito biting at his ass. Enough, already. Grunting with the effort, he flopped back out of the shallow water, dragging the surprised gator back on top of him and silencing the phone as their collective weight landed on it. The gator’s shock at being flipped endwise over its own tail gave John the second’s pause he needed to slip a zip tie around its snout and ratchet the razor-toothed jaws firmly together.

John rolled the gator’s weight off his chest and kept it going, log-rolling the creature all the way onto its back again. Its tiny, armoured eyes glared spitefully. He scrambled up, stretching his aching back, and planted one boot on the gator’s belly to keep it from regaining its feet. He bit into a filthy fingertip of his right glove to pull it loose, the glove’s stink of swamp and gator too familiar to even notice, then rummaged in his waders like a bum scratching an itch to retrieve the phone.

The tidy stack of missed calls greeted him. He poked at the call-back button, hands clumsy with fatigue.

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don't miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He has helped many of his students get published, including our guest speaker, Ross Pennie.

Dr. Ross Pennie is the author of The Unforgiving Tides, a doctor’s memoir of Papua New Guinea (Manor House Publishing). He has also signed a contract with ECW Press for three medical mystery novels. The first of these, Tainted, came out last April and won Arts Hamilton Literary Award for Fiction. Ross's next novel, Tampered, will be launched May 5. At the workshop, Ross will speak on how to turn ordinary life into dramatic material and will answer questions about how he wrote his memoir and got it published.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Jersey Devil is a creature of legend, lurking in the shadows of the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, revealing itself only to wreak havoc on some small town, snack on the sporadic chicken or goat, and, occasionally, if it’s feeling a little randy, to hit on mermaids down the Jersey shore.

Jersey Devil Press, on the other hand, is a small, independent publisher, located deep in the upper right ventricle of northern New Jersey. We release a monthly online magazine of short fiction and a yearly anthology in the more traditional “dead tree” format. We also publish the occasional novel or story collection, should we feel so inclined. We are not particularly fond of Jersey Shore.

We want the stories that don’t fit into the traditional definitions of speculative fiction or literature. We want funny and we want “What the fuck was that?” We want convincing dialogue: slang, dropped g’s, people talking like actual people. We want characters we can believe in, whether they’ve got four arms or they’re giant lizards or whatever. Sure, we like other stuff, too. But, seriously, if you’ve got a story about a twenty-story-tall talking fjord, we’re your magazine.

Submissions
Jersey Devil Press is now accepting short story submissions for our monthly online journal. Our tastes tend more toward funny, offbeat and absurd, but we’ve certainly been known to dig the occasional heart-breaking or thought-provoking piece, too.

Submissions to the online journal should be less than 4,200 words. We’d prefer an even 4,000, but we know those last sentences can turn into pages. We’re also OK with flash fiction, if that’s your thing.

Simultaneous submissions are cool, previously published work is cool. Just let us know when and where. Please note that by “previously,” we literally mean “previously.” If it’s currently published, i.e. something that went up in another journal last month and is still readily available online, or if it’s part of the book you just released, that seems a little greedy to us.

Submissions can be sent to: submissions@jerseydevilpress.com
Please put the word “Submission” in the subject line, along with the title of the piece. Your work can either be attached to the e-mail (.doc, .docx, or .rtf please) or in the body of. Just be sure you don’t give us any wonky viruses or we will find you and destroy your laptop with our minds.

Include a third-person bio in the ballpark of 100 words. Please submit only one story at a time, and please wait at least two weeks before resubmitting after a rejection.

If you don’t receive a reply from us within eight weeks, feel free to send a follow-up query to the above address.

Please, for the love of God, proofread. A typo we can understand, but a complete and utter lack of the basic tenets of grammar is an affront to human decency.

We can’t pay you. We’re sorry. We’re at least as poor as you are.

If you’re jonesing for even more guidelines, or if you just want a leg up on topics that will really get our engines revved, click here for more detailed submissions info than you could ever possibly imagine.

We’re looking for short fiction, under 1,000 words, inspired by the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen. Not necessarily an entire song, just one or two lines. Tone and style are entirely up to you, but it’s gotta be fiction. Seriously, no poetry.

Those are pretty much the only constraints. Send your stories to submissions at jerseydevilpress dot com, with the phrase “Submission – Brilliant Disguise” in the subject line, along with the title of the piece. In the e-mail itself, be sure to include the lyric and the title of the song.

Story can be either attached to the e-mail (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) or in the body of. As always, don’t send us viruses or else we will hunt you down and cut you.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The winner of the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is Molly Ringle of Seattle, Washington, who penned the following:

“For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss – a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil.”

The rules to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest are childishly simple:

Each entry must consist of a single sentence but you may submit as many entries as you wish. (One fellow once submitted over 3,000 entries.)

Sentences may be of any length but we strongly recommend that entries not go beyond 50 or 60 words, and entries must be "original" (as it were) and previously unpublished.

E-mail entries should be in the body of the message, not in an attachment, )and it would be really swell if you submitted your entries in Arial 12 font). One e-mail may contain multiple entries.

Entries will be judged by categories, from "general" to detective, western, science fiction, romance, and so on. There will be overall winners as well as category winners.

The official deadline is April 15 (a date that Americans associate with painful submissions and making up bad stories). The actual deadline may be as late as May 30. The results will be released by mid-June.

The contest accepts submissions every day of the livelong year.

Wild Card Rule: Resist the temptation to work with puns like "It was a stark and dormy night."

Finally, in keeping with the gravitas, high seriousness, and general bignitude of the contest, the grand prize winner will receive . . . a pittance.

To keep up to date with all the annual writing contests in Canada, get the 2011 Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar – just $23 including tax and shipping (or $20 at any of Brian Henry's workshops or classes). To order your copy, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca More details here.

For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Hi Brian,
So much good stuff is going on I'm having trouble keeping my head straight.

First, in the past month, my young adult historical novel Broken Trail has been launched in Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston. Great launches all three.

Second, I've gone to contract on my next short story collection (for adults), Scattered Light. Seraphim Editions will bring it out in the fall of this year.

Third, Freedom Bound, the young adult historical novel that completes the trilogy of The Way Lies North and Broken Trail, will be published in the spring of 2012. I am stunned by the speed with which this novel was accepted. Ronsdale Press received the manuscript on Friday, the publisher read it over the weekend and sent me a contract on Monday. All done in just seventy-two hours!

What do you think of that? Frankly, I think it's my best YA to date and am delighted somebody else seems to think so too.

All the best and I'll see you Saturday at the workshop in Guelph,Jean Rae Baxter

Jean will be the guest speaker at my "Writing with Style" workshop this Saturday, March 12, in Guelph, Ontario. Details here.
For information about all my upcoming writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.

Nikki Rosen stuffed her history of abuse, addictions and emotional pain into a closet, slammed the door and started a new life. “I didn’t want to tell my story,” Rosen admits, “but I felt I had to tell the truth of what happened to give hope to others.”

Opening one’s soul and pouring truth onto a page is a difficult process. Rosen draws the reader into her dark past: As a child she struggles to hold onto reality while suffering severe emotional abuse. As a teenager she roams dangerous streets alone, addicted and impoverished. Her longing for family leads her to join a cult. There, she’s repeatedly raped and threatened.

Rosen takes the reader into the secret back rooms of a cult. She shows how the cult’s leader uses charismatic power to deceive his followers. Intelligent people stand by in silence while their self-proclaimed guru commits sexual crimes. The leader controls their money and family lives while providing less than minimal living conditions. Rosen shows more fight than most but isn’t immune to the seductive power operating through the cult’s leader. She escapes but not to a better life.

At her messiest, Rosen meets God. “Nothing,” says Rosen, “had been able to break the chains that kept me living on the edge. Nothing except the gentleness of His touch.”

In an instant, she loses her desire for drugs. But her self-abusive habits remain, and these take years to overcome. The book becomes mildly tedious in the chapters devoted to therapy sessions. Rosen’s honesty sometimes jars the reader.

She eventually became a social worker, and at one point she’s counseling others by day and cutting herself when home alone at night.

After Rosen meets God, He becomes a main character in the story. Her gratitude to Him flows through the remaining chapters. She makes many statements like this one: “Drug rehabilitation programs, the psychiatric system, therapists and even prison couldn’t shake me free from the pain and oppression that lived in my heart. Only God was able to do that.”

In the Eye of Deception delivers hope not only to the mentally ill, drug-addicted and destitute, but to their families, as well. Readers will view these lost ones with new compassion. We’ll wonder, if handled with care could this person become another Nikki Rosen.

In the Eye of Deception by Nikki Rosen, won the Word Guild 2010 Award for best memoir.

Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of personal essays and articles on faith and family. She also writes devotionals and contributes to book compilations such as Grandmother’s Necklace, recently published for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. She lives in Caledonia, Ontario, with husband Doug. They have three children and two grandchildren and occasionally co-author articles on finances. They enjoy time at their cottage on Manitoulin Island.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Before joining Spencerhill Associates, Nalini Akolekar began her publishing career at Silhouette Books (an imprint of Harlequin headquartered in New York) and has more than 15 years of experience as a freelance editor. In addition to freelancing for companies like Silhouette, Harlequin, Kensington, and Dorchester, she has been a reviewer and done manuscript evaluations for Romantic Times Magazine.

Nalini is interested in discovering and developing new talent, and is accepting submissions—from published and unpublished authors—in women’s fiction, romance of every genre, and suspense/thrillers.

Query her at submission@spencerhillassociates.com
No snail mail queries please. Pitch your project and talk about yourself: Do you have prior publishing credits? Attach the first three chapters and synopsis, in .doc, rtf or txt format to your e-mail. "We do not have a preference for exclusive submissions, but do appreciate knowing if the submission is simultaneous."

Other agents at Spencerhill are also accepting queries. The agency is currently considering submissions from published and un-published authors in the following genres: commercial, general-interest fiction, romance including historical romance, paranormal romance, urban fantasy, erotic fiction, category romance, literary fiction, thrillers and mysteries. Jennifer Schober is looking also for exciting YA projects and selected non-fiction projects.

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.